Well, I guess winter has finally arrived and we can call it a wrap for the year, even though some of us still manage to find things to do out there in the cold until we absolutely have to surrender to the snows.
Then it’s cleaning up, putting the tools away and, the best part, settling down to a big pot of tea with a cozy blanket on our laps to flip through the pages of our favorite garden books, magazines and seed catalogues to scheme and dream about next year’s gardening season.
Knowledge of certain plants and how to use them has been around for almost 35,000 years.
Early peoples had knowledge of many plants through food gathering techniques. For instance, the 10,000 year old ‘Iceman’ discovered in the Alps in 1991, had two species of fungi in his pouch – a highly combustible one for starting fires and the other used for an immune booster.
Around 8,500 BC in Mesopotamia, they were raising animals and growing grains and, by 8,000 BC, cereals and legumes were under cultivation. Around the year 3,000 BC, manuals for the use of herbs in medicine were written and, in the 1700s, codes and rules were put down on paper on maintaining irrigation canals and ditches and property laws regarding gardening.
Over the centuries, trade of food and plants by ship and land between villages, cities and nations have connected people from all points of the globe. Botanists continue to search the planet for new and exciting specimens, and the art, science and pastime of agriculture and horticulture have become well established.
The definition of gardening is, “the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture.” But it should go on to say that gardening is not only essential to our very existence, but it also plays an enormous role in the fabric of societies all over the world.
Gardens are used for practical purposes to feed people and animals, but they also have so much more to offer us and in so many different ways.
They are used as places to be calm and to heal, as sanctuaries for peace, reflection and spiritual practice; a spot to connect with nature as well as providing attractive areas for social gatherings and special occasions such as weddings and parties.
Gardens offer balance in our lives, a reason to be outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine, for exercise, a place to think, blow off steam and be creative. They are a wonderful subject for artists and photographers, fun and enchanting places to play for children and a memory trigger for the elderly, who often love to reflect on their own past gardens and farmsteads.
Gardens bring colour and beauty to the world, provide an important food source to our pollinators, and offer habitat for an amazing variety of insects, worms, birds and small animals.
I find it hard to imagine what our communities would look like without the streets that are lined with hedges, flowers, pretty ornamental trees and shrubs, along with the interesting fences, garden gates and ornaments.
Those glorious cascading hanging baskets dangling from the lampposts, and the municipal gardens that offer green spaces and a place to sit and rest are worth every tax dollar to me.
Our nurseries, plant and garden supply stores and florists are always such amazing and delightful places to wander through and shop, and the farmers’ markets are a magnet for so many, not just for the freshness of the fruits and vegetables, but just to experience such a variety of foods, flowers, plants and edibles that we’re so fortunate to have available to us.
In Donna Sinclair’s book, The Spirituality of Gardening, she says, “I believe our gardens to be more than dry soil and cedars huddled against the foundation of our homes; more even than the glorious colour and texture, shape and form of a well-loved border that draws passersby to wonder.
Gardens are our connection to the land and to the One who created it.
They are autobiography, memory and hope. Gardeners strive to re-create Eden on their own small pieces of earth.”
We are now entering the Christmas season, when we begin more than ever to reflect and remember our blessings in life and to give and receive gifts.
As for me, and I’m sure for so many others, I’d like to express my thanks, appreciation and gratitude to all of our gardeners, farmers, horticulturists, landscapers, landscape maintenance people and municipal crews, along with the countless others who own or organize the nurseries, florist shops, farmers’ markets, seed, food, soil and bee keeping businesses, the garden stores, hanging basket suppliers and our educators for giving us your gifts of fresh food, flowers, plants, knowledge, creativity and skill in this beautiful and bountiful place we call home in the Shuswap.
